1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of collaborative computing and more particularly to collaborator presence in a human-to-human collaborative tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Real time communications systems provide a substantial enhancement over more traditional, asynchronous communications systems. Electronic mail delivery systems, the prototypical asynchronous communications systems, in its time represented a giant leap forward in respect to global interpersonal communications. Prior to electronic mail, individuals primarily communicated via telephone, facsimile and post. With electronic mail, however, individuals expect near instant delivery of text, and even imagery, audio and video, without incurring the delay typical of the postal system, or the expense associated with telephony and fax technologies.
Despite the ubiquity of electronic mail, asynchronous communications systems lack several elements common in the realm of real time communications systems. In particular, the seemingly instant delivery of a message cannot be experienced in the world of electronic mail. In a real-time society, the minor latencies associated with electronic mail often cannot be suitable for the task at hand where a real-time conversation will be required in addressing a problem or performing a collaborative task. More importantly, often the feel and nature of a “conversation” as it is known to human beings only can be approximated through real time communications where the participants to a conversation feel the spontaneity of an exchange of ideas, much as is the case in a live, face-to-face conversation.
The recent rapid development of the Internet has led to advanced modes of synchronous, real-time collaboration able to fulfill the real-time communicative requirements of the modern computing participant. Using the Internet as a backbone, individuals worldwide can converge in real-time in cyberspace to share ideas, documents and images in a manner not previously possible through conventional telephony and video conferencing. To facilitate collaboration over the Internet, a substantial collection of technologies and protocols have been assembled to effectively deliver audio, video and data over the single data communications medium of the Internet. These technologies include several human-to-human collaborative tools such as instant messaging and persistent chat rooms.
In a human-to-human collaborative tool such as an instant messenger, presence sensing can indicate to a user whether other collaborators are available to participate in a collaborative session. Possible states can include online and available, online but unavailable, and offline, to name a few. Generally, establishing a collaborative session involving other designated participants, a listing of the other designated participants can be provided which listing can indicate the state of each of the participants.
Advanced forms of human-to-human collaborative tools further permit the designation of groups of participants in a collaborative session. The groups of participants can range from just a few locally disposed participants, to hundreds of participants dispersed about an expansive geography. Yet, while presence sensing can provide state information for the individual participants, state information for the groups remains unavailable. Moreover, helpful granular information regarding the groups also remains unavailable to the moderator of a human-to-human collaborative session.